A birthday wish PV: Mikey Forville

The note had been tucked away between the books Mikey had been carrying around after Transfiguration. For a while, he’d just stared at the handwriting, reading the same sentence over and over until the words didn’t look like words anymore. He’d tried not to think about it. That had been the plan all day going to class, giving the right answers, and trying to focus on anything but late and viaduct and the way Olivia’s name at the bottom of the page looked like she’d written it in a hurry, almost shaky. Every hour that went by, however, made his focus wander. If she was inviting him to meet her somewhere, alone, after curfew, that meant what she had to tell him hadn’t gone away. Or maybe it was just about what they promised last year on her birthday.

When the castle was quiet at last, and the halls were empty, Mikey put on his jacket and went out, with the wariness of one who knew better than to take any chances. He stuck to the edges of the halls, listening for the sound of footsteps, stopping if a portrait spoke or shifted ominously. And when he stepped out into the night air, he felt the shock of it like a slap in the face. It was cold, and damp, and stung his lungs, so he pulled his scarf up higher and went towards the bridge, his hand stuck deep into his pocket, and wishing he'd thought to bring gloves.

The viaduct was deserted, the light of the lanterns stretching out in long, pale pools of light on the stone. For a moment, he didn't see her, and his heart skipped a little, but then he saw her, standing by the rail, small and dark against the night, gazing out over the lake, as if she was trying to gather herself together from the darkness of the water.

Mikey slowed his pace as he went towards her, not wanting to scare her, stopping a few feet away, leaving space between them, "Hey," he said softly, his voice low so that it wouldn't carry beyond the light of the lanterns, "Happy birthday." He lifted the thermos of hot coco he'd brought. "Its not much but it should keep us warm for a bit."

There was a moment of silence before Olivia smiled a small but warm smile. “Hi,” she said, her shoulders sagging noticeably. She was relieved that he had come. She was relieved that he had remembered her birthday. And she was genuinely relieved that he had brought hot chocolate. “Thank you,” she said, taking the thermos. From it she poured two mugs, one each, and gave one to Mikey.

Olivia drank the chocolate slowly, feeling the warmth spread through her cold body. She wondered how best to begin the conversation in which she would reveal her big, crucial secret. Olivia took a breath and looked out over the water again. She couldn’t meet his gaze and say it.

“I’m glad you came, I almost thought you wouldn’t,” she said in the same low voice. It was true. Considering she had been avoiding him, she hadn’t been sure if he had wanted to see her. Her gaze was fixed on the dark lake.

She took another breath. “Last time we saw each other,” she began, her gaze still fixed on the water. “You promised me you wouldn’t freak out, scream, or leave me.” She forced herself to meet his gaze. “I really meant it. Mikey, you mean a lot to me. More than either you or I know...”

There was silence for a few seconds. "I'm scared," she said finally, her voice trembling. "I'm scared of what Hogwarts would be without you."Her voice trailed off and she looked out across the water again, quick-witted. She waited for him to say something. Anything.

Mikey wrapped his hands around the mug she gave him, letting the warmth seep into his hands before he drank the hot cocoa. It was almost too hot, but he didn’t mind. It gave him something to hold onto while she talked. When she told him she thought he wouldn’t come, his brow furrowed slightly. "You wrote the note," he said softly, his voice a little rough. "Of course, I came."

As she talked, he listened, his eyes fixed on hers, his face unchanging. He remembered the promise, all right. He remembered the study hall, the way her quill had fallen from her hands and the look on her face. He had meant every word of it, and he meant every word of it now. But when she told him she was scared of what Hogwarts would be like without him, his face changed slightly, his eyes widening a little, his jaw setting. "Hey" he said softly, his voice a little rough, his eyes searching for hers, "that’s a lot of pressure to put on someone who nearly failed his last quiz."

His mouth was slightly curved upward, a warm, careful smile, not a teasing one but a warm one, reassuring. "Hogwarts would be the same" he told her softly, his voice a little rough, his eyes searching. He took another sip of the cocoa before continuing more seriously, “But I get what you mean.”

He shifted his weight a little, moving back a bit on the stone railing, giving her space without making her feel alone out there in the dark. “You don’t have to be scared of me freaking out. I’m not going anywhere. You’re my friend you know. He took a deep breath, one visible through the cold air. “And if you’re worried about next year or the year after that we can figure it out. Friends stick together and all that, Right.”

His voice lightened a little, just a little. “Besides, you’d miss having someone to steal chocolate from. And I’d miss having someone who actually knows how to take notes properly.”

He looked at her then, his expression steady. “Hogwarts isn’t going to take me away from you. And I’m definitely not running away.” He smiled at her. “You’re stuck with me as a friend for a while Olivia.”

Olivia was so relieved she could barely describe it. His smile and his words made her whole body warm. He would stay. He would stay with her. As a friend. It was all she could wish for. She felt herself smiling. “Mhm,” she just mumbled.

Then she gathered herself. Olivia and Mikey hadn’t really talked about deep things before so she was a little hesitant about how to start. “I don’t know if you heard it from the way I talk but I didn’t only grow up in London,” she finally began because she wanted to give some background before she said… that.

“Me, and my parents, lived in Stockholm, Sweden. My mother was a magizoologist and worked to protect magical creatures in Sweden. My father helped her. And when I was three,” she paused. “We had rented a cabin in northern Sweden. It’s darker at night there and the cabin we rented was right on the edge of a large, deep forest.”

She looked down at her hands, which were shaking not only from the cold. “One night I was walking away by myself. It was a full moon. I heard noises from some bushes and then…” her voice trailed off. Olivia clenched her fists and forced herself to continue. “It was on me in a matter of seconds and bit me… A werewolf.”

She didn’t dare look at Mikey, half expecting to hear his footsteps as he walked away or have a curse cast on her. But when she heard nothing, she continued. “I’m a werewolf. A disgusting monster with scars everywhere. A lonely outsider.” Olivia had tears in her eyes now. “And of course my mother died two years later. Dad and I moved to London because he got a job as an Auror. And I… I was all alone.”

She couldn’t hold back the tears anymore. “I understand now that all that loneliness wasn’t good for me. But then I came Hogwarts and met you. And now? Now life is a little better.” Olivia looked up at Mikey for the first time in several minutes. Tears were flowing freely and she was shaking from head to toe, from the cold and the crying.

Banner 2


For several seconds after she finished talking, Mikey didn’t say anything at all. The wind blew gently over the viaduct, rustling over the stone and playing softly at the ends of his scarf. Far down below, the lake stirred, and a faint wave spread over the black water, breaking up the reflection of Hogwarts’ windows as they shone with a shifting pattern of gold and amber lights.

Mikey still held the mug in both hands, though he had forgotten to take a drink. A werewolf. The words repeated themselves in Mikey’s mind, and for some reason, they sounded distant, as if coming from someone else’s voice, someone else’s mind. Mikey had certainly heard those words before, of course. In his Defense Against the Dark Arts classes, for instance, or in stories other kids told when they were trying to frighten younger kids, or in those half serious discussions other people had about dangerous creatures living deep in the forest, or in the mountains, or in some other place far, far away from Hogwarts.

But hearing those words, standing on a bridge in the cold, with someone he was friends with standing in front of him, crying, was very, very different from hearing those words in any of those other contexts. Mikey blinked slowly again, trying to make sense of what she had said, trying to make sense of what he knew and what she had told him, and for a moment, he simply looked at the water, and then at her, as if his mind was still trying to catch up.

“I… wait,” Mikey said, his voice low and cautious, though there was no anger in it, only confusion and puzzlement. “You mean… you’re actually a werewolf?” He shifted his position slightly, lowering his eyes for a brief instant as he rubbed the back of his neck with the hand. It was something he did whenever he was concentrating hard on something. His breath misted out into the cold air in thin puffs.

“That’s... a lot to take in, all at once,” he said after a brief moment. “I mean, I didn't exactly expect that, tonight.” He didn't move away, however. If anything, he shifted slightly closer, resting his elbow on the cold stone railing he was leaning against, leaving space between himself and her. His body position, however, made one thing clear: he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

“I'm not going to pretend that I understand everything about that, or that it doesn't sound... kind of scary. I mean, yeah. It does.” He shrugged, hesitantly. “Most of what we've heard about werewolves isn't exactly reassuring.”

His eyes came back to her, actually focusing on her for an instant, rather than staring past her as he'd been doing. “But you're still Olivia right.” He said the words simply, as if they were the most obvious thing in the world. “You're still the same girl who helps me figure out homework assignments that I have no idea how to do, because I have no idea what half the teacher said in class,” he said softly. “You're still the same girl who sneaks out to meet her friend in strange places.”

For the first time since she had told him, the corner of the mikeys mouth curled up into a small, tentative smile. It wasn't teasing, or condescending. It was warm. “And you're still the person who dragged me through that History of Magic essay last month when I was ready to give up and accept my terrible grade.”

The smile began to fade as he saw the tears still on her face, and his expression changed slightly. “I don't really see how that suddenly makes you a monster.” Again, he hesitated, still trying to process everything she had told him. His expression was uncertain, but it wasn't filled with fear or anger, just confusion and a desire to understand this unexpected situation.

“I'm not going to lie, though,” Mikey said, “I'm confused. I've got a hundred questions floating around in my head right now, and I'm not even sure where to begin asking those questions.” He let out a deep breath, watching as his breath rose into the night air. “But losing a friend over it?” Mikey shook his head gently. “I'm not doing that.”

He lifted the mug again and finally took a small drink of the cocoa, wincing slightly at the still hot liquid before putting it down again. “You trusted me enough to tell me something like this,” Mikey said, “and that wasn't easy.” For a moment, Mikey looked down at the thermos of cocoa between them, then nudged it slightly closer to her with the side of his hand. “And for the record?” Mikey said, his voice slightly softer, “You're freezing.” There was a hint of humor coming back into his voice as he spoke, and for a moment, things seemed to go back to normal, if only slightly. “So if we're having life-changing conversations on a stone bridge in the middle of winter?” Mikey said, “Then we should at least finish the cocoa first. unless you plan on developing a thick fur coat.”

Olivia listened carefully as Mikey spoke. When he asked if she was really a werewolf, Olivia nodded slightly, almost a little embarrassed. Of course, his prejudices about werewolves would change the way he viewed Olivia. But he didn't leave. He stayed.

Then their eyes met briefly and he said that she was still the same old Olivia who helped him with his homework and snuck out to meet friends. That was true, she assumed. Then he said the most important thing: "I don't really see how that suddenly makes you a monster." That was the proof Olivia needed. The proof that showed that he really was going to stay, that they were still friends.

When Mikey finished speaking, Olivia tried to smile at Mikey, but it only turned out as a grimace. It was as if the whole world had been lifted off her shoulders and she was weightless. She felt so relieved. “Yeah,” she mumbled but still couldn’t stop crying.

She took a sip of the chocolate but it was lukewarm now so it didn’t warm her up that much. “Thank you,” she said then and looked at him. “For everything.” She looked out at the water again and wiped her eyes on her sleeve. “Before we start that life-changing conversation, maybe… maybe I can get a hug?” she asked with another look at Mikey. “For the warmth?” she added with a hint of her usual smile.

Mikey hadn’t expected that. For a second, he just stood there, the question hanging between them. His grip tightened slightly around his mug as he looked at her. She was still shaking, still trying to hold herself together, and the smile she managed didn’t quite hide how upset she was. He stood there for a second more.

Not because he didn’t want to help, but because he wasn’t entirely sure what the right move was. He wasn’t exactly great at this sort of thing. Conversations like this were already new territory… and hugs? His mind flickered, briefly, to Avery and how easily she seemed to move through things like this, how natural it looked when she comforted people. Mikey pushed the thought aside. This was about Olivia. “Yeah,” he said after a second, his voice a little quieter than before. “Yeah, of course.”

He set his mug down carefully on the stone railing and stepped closer, a bit awkwardly at first. There was a short pause like he was giving her time to change her mind before he reached out and pulled her into a hug. It wasn’t smooth at all. It was a little unsure at first, his arms wrapped around her as if he wasn’t entirely sure where they should go. But after a second or so, he shifted, and hugged her a bit more solidly. Not too tightly he thought.

“You’re freezing,” he muttered softly, more out of reflex than anything else. He stayed like that for a moment, letting the wind whip past them instead of through them. It wasn’t an action he often performed, but he also didn’t draw back immediately. “I meant what I said, you know,” he added quietly. “About not going anywhere.”

There was a moment of silence before he spoke again, but not long enough to make him feel any more awkward than he already did. “I might not always know what to say,” he admitted, “but... I’ll still be here.” He shifted to ease the tension but not break the moment. “Next time,” he added softly, a hint of sheepishness creeping into his voice, “we’re picking somewhere warmer than a stone bridge in the middle of winter.”

When Olivia heard Mikey's "Yeah" and felt his arms close around her, she felt a warmth spread inside her. Not just from the hug but from her own heart. She closed her eyes for a moment and her arms closed around Mikey as well. Then she relaxed for a moment without saying anything. Just letting the moment exist in peace and quiet. Olivia breathed in Mikey's scent and felt that she had not been calmer than this in years and days.

She heard when he said that he meant that he would not go anywhere and that he would be there for her. Then she felt Mikey shift and the moment broke a little. The cold crept back into Olivia and she quickly took half a step back. Red as a tomato in her face, she hoped it was dark enough so Mikey wouldn't see it. Olivia wiped the last of the tears on her sleeves and looked away for a moment.

“Next time, we’re picking somewhere warmer than a stone bridge in the middle of winter,” she heard Mikey say and looked at him. Her usual smile returned and she nodded. “Yeah, that sounds good. But we do have a history of choosing the worst places for our important conversations,” Olivia said, turning back to the lake. Why did the moment have to be broken like that?

“So? Whatever questions you have about my… other side, I’ll do my best to answer them,” Olivia said, looking back at Mikey again. “You can start with one of the hundreds you mentioned earlier.”